Electrolysis cells consist of an anode, a cathode and plates in between the anode and cathode that are not directly connected to ground or power but are active by conductivity of the electrolyte. These are called “neutral plates” or bipolar plates. Some cells have holes in the anode and cathode as well as the neutral plates for allowing flow of electrolyte. However, these holes also create voltage loss. Alternative designs do not use holes in the electrode plates, as there is no circulation of electrolyte. However, these cells require periodic checks to maintain water level or drip-feed systems to replenish the cells. These cells also exhibit thermal runaway and/or the need for costly electronics to monitor and modulate current for prevention of overloads.
Other dry cells have internal or external manifolds to feed individual cells keeping cells isolated from each other, providing efficiency gains by eliminating voltage loss. These systems use a circulating reservoir for cooling, and small ports for moving electrolyte. The small ports created for the flow into each cell have the liability of becoming plugged or restricted by contaminants as well as electrolyte solids. They also create issues with leakage of electrolyte from the external manifolds. This results in reduced efficiency and increased maintenance requirements.
Most “Dry Cell” electrolyzers use plates with ports drilled in the plate surface to allow electrolyte flow and gas flow to circulate in the cell. These cells have large potential voltage leakage at each every plate, due in part to the ports cut into each plate for the bolts and flow paths when plates are sandwiched together. These ports create areas of voltage leakage between anode and cathode, with the edges of the holes leaking voltage around their entire circumference. Ports in neutral electrode plates between the anode and cathode allow a direct path for voltage between anode and cathode, with the edges of the holes leaking voltage around their entire circumference. Every plate having a port leaks voltage. These cells have efficiency limitations and they produce steam in addition to the gas created by electrolysis. Cells must be fully isolated to eliminate or reduce voltage leakage, using mechanical isolation. For example, Henes (U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,215) discloses an electrolyzer having a three-plate stacked cell which is bolted together with through-bolts, thereby creating a sandwiched arrangement. The cells may be used in series. However, stacked cells using such a design suffer from a final assembly that is very bulky, limiting its potential applications due to space constraints, such as in modern vehicles, where engine space is very limited. Further, the design results in substantial labor requirements during assembly, as different plates need to be arranged and isolated, and then the entire assembly must be bolted together.
Other advanced designs of dry cells use isolated individual cell components to prevent voltage loss. Edson (U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,539) discloses separating the cell into two solution chambers, one for anolyte and another for catholyte. The chambers are divided by a microporous membrane, such as alumina or other ceramic matrix, to allow ionic transfer while still separating electrolytes. Each cell is divided and the plurality of cells forms the complete stack. However, the cell requires mechanical isolation, with an extremely bulky design.
However, most electrolyzers in the art display significant voltage loss, due to ports provided in the various electrode plates. Most solutions provide for electrolyzers that require a large unwieldy cell stack using physical or mechanical isolation to address voltage loss. As such, the present art requires a simplified electrolyzer design which provides compact size with minimal or no voltage loss, efficiency, and ease of maintenance.